Systems and methods for low-manganese welding wire

ABSTRACT

The invention relates generally to welding and, more specifically, to welding wires for arc welding, such as Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) or Flux Core Arc Welding (FCAW). In one embodiment, a tubular welding wire includes a sheath and a core. The tubular welding wire includes less than approximately 0.4% manganese metal or alloy by weight, and the tubular welding wire is configured to form a weld deposit having less than approximately 0.5% manganese by weight.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/651,279, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOW-MANGANESE WELDING WIRE,” filed May 24, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates generally to welding and, more specifically, to electrodes for arc welding, such as Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) or Flux Core Arc Welding (FCAW).

Welding is a process that has become ubiquitous in various industries for a variety of applications. For example, welding is often used in applications such as shipbuilding, offshore platform, construction, pipe mills, and so forth. Certain welding techniques (e.g., Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), Gas-shielded Flux Core Arc Welding (FCAW-G), Self-shielded Flux Core Arc Welding (FCAW-S), and Submerged Arc Welding (SAW)), typically employ a welding electrode in the form of welding wire. Welding wire may generally provide a supply of filler metal for the weld as well as provide a path for the current during the welding process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In an embodiment, a tubular welding wire includes a sheath and a core. The tubular welding wire includes less than approximately 0.4% manganese metal or alloy by weight, and the tubular welding wire is configured to form a weld deposit having less than approximately 0.5% manganese by weight.

In another embodiment, a method includes forming a weld deposit on a workpiece using a welding electrode, in which the weld deposit comprises less than approximately 0.5% manganese by weight. Further, a Charpy V-Notch (CVN) toughness of the weld deposit is greater than approximately 65 foot-pounds (ft-lbs) at −20° F. and greater than approximately 45 ft-lbs at −40° F.

In another embodiment, a method of manufacturing a welding electrode includes forming an agglomerate by sintering a mixture comprising pigment-grade titanium dioxide, potassium silicate, sodium silicate, and lithium fluoride. The method also includes mixing the agglomerate with at least one alloying component, at least one arc stabilizing component, and at least one deoxidizing component to form a granular core. The method further includes disposing the granular core within a metallic sheath to form the welding electrode, wherein the welding electrode comprises less than approximately 0.4% manganese metal or alloy by weight.

DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) system, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a tubular welding wire, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a process by which the tubular welding wire may be used to weld a workpiece, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 4 is a process for manufacturing the tubular welding wire, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. It should be appreciated that, as used herein, the term “tubular welding electrode” or “tubular welding wire” may refer to any welding wire or electrode having a metal sheath and a granular or powdered core, such as metal-cored or flux-cored welding electrodes. It should be appreciated that the term “tubular,” as used herein, may include various shapes of welding wire, including round, elliptical, square, polygonal, or any other suitable shape.

Certain types of welding wire (e.g., tubular welding wire) may include one or more components (e.g., flux, arc stabilizers, or other additives) that may generally alter the welding process and/or the properties of the resulting weld. For example, rutile is a mineral, primarily composed of titanium dioxide (TiO₂), which may also include compounds of iron (Fe), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), vanadium (V), and/or other impurities. Furthermore, rutile may be included in some types of welding wires, such as T-1 welding wires (e.g., AWS A5.20 EXXT-1, A5.29 EXXT1-YY, A5.36 EXXT-1, and EXXT1-YY). By further example, certain types of welding wires may include a substantial quantity of manganese (Mn) (e.g., greater than 0.5% by weight) to function as a deoxidizer and/or an alloying metal for the resulting weld. That is, this manganese content may react with oxygen near the welding environment to form oxides of manganese (e.g., manganese oxide (MnO) and/or manganese dioxide (MnO₂)) that flow into the slag and/or transfer into the weld pool becoming incorporated into the weld metal to improve the mechanical properties of the resulting weld. In general, manganese may form alloys with certain metals (e.g., steel) to provide improved strength, ductility, and toughness. In certain environments, the manganese may act as a deoxidizer reacting with oxygen (e.g., from the atmosphere) in order to block (e.g., limit or prevent) this oxygen from remaining in the weld deposit. Similarly, manganese may react with and remove sulfur from the welding environment. Furthermore, manganese in a welding wire may help to control the weld puddle (e.g., by improving the wetting of the workpiece).

However, despite these effects, it may be desirable, in certain situations, to utilize a low-manganese welding wire. For example, a welding wire having low manganese content (e.g., less than 0.5%, less than 0.35%, or less than 0.26% manganese by weight) may volatilize only a small quantity of manganese during the welding operation. Accordingly, the present disclosure is directed toward systems and methods for welding wires having low manganese content that may be used to produce welds having a low manganese content (e.g., less than approximately 0.5%, less than approximately 0.4%, or less than 0.3% manganese by weight) while still providing suitable weld properties (e.g., tensile strength, ductility, toughness, and so forth). In other words, the presently disclosed welding wires generally maintain the weld quality (e.g., a weld having a reasonable level of inclusions, good strength, and/or good toughness) despite the low manganese content.

In certain embodiments, the disclosed welding wires achieve the aforementioned welding properties and weld quality despite the low manganese content, at least in part, through the use of a purified, agglomerated titanium dioxide component. For example, the granular core of certain presently disclosed tubular welding wire embodiments may include pigment-grade TiO₂ that has been agglomerated with binding and/or drying agents (e.g., sodium silicate, potassium silicate, lithium fluoride, and/or other binding or drying agents). Furthermore, certain embodiments of the presently disclosed welding wire may include high levels of deoxidizers (e.g., zirconium, aluminum, magnesium, silicon, and/or other suitable deoxidizers) to generally deter (e.g., block) oxygen incorporation into the weld metal. Accordingly, as set forth below, the presently disclosed tubular welding wires enable the formation of weld deposits having relatively low manganese content (e.g., generally less than approximately 0.5% by weight) while still affording good weld properties (e.g., tensile strength, ductility, toughness, and so forth).

Turning to the figures, FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) system 10 that utilizes tubular welding wire, in accordance with the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that, while the present discussion may focus specifically on the GMAW system 10 illustrated in FIG. 1, the presently disclosed welding wire may benefit a number of different welding processes (e.g., FCAW-S, FCAW-G, GTAW, SAW, or similar welding processes) that use a welding wire. The welding system 10 includes a welding power source 12, a welding wire feeder 14, a gas supply system 16, and a welding torch 18. The welding power source 12 generally supplies power to the welding system 10 and may be coupled to the welding wire feeder 14 via a cable bundle 20. The welding power source 12 may also be coupled to a workpiece 22 using a lead cable 24 having a clamp 26. In the illustrated embodiment, the welding wire feeder 14 is coupled to the welding torch 18 via a cable bundle 28 in order to supply consumable, tubular welding wire (e.g., the welding electrode) and power to the welding torch 18 during operation of the welding system 10. In another embodiment, the welding power source 12 may couple and directly supply power to the welding torch 18.

The welding power source 12 may generally include power conversion circuitry that receives input power from an alternating current power source 30 (e.g., an AC power grid, an engine/generator set, or a combination thereof), conditions the input power, and provides DC or AC output power via the cable 20. As such, the welding power source 12 may power the welding wire feeder 14 that, in turn, powers the welding torch 18, in accordance with demands of the welding system 10. The lead cable 24 terminating in the clamp 26 couples the welding power source 12 to the workpiece 22 to close the circuit between the welding power source 12, the workpiece 22, and the welding torch 18. The welding power source 12 may include circuit elements (e.g., transformers, rectifiers, switches, and so forth) capable of converting the AC input power to a direct current electrode positive (DCEP) output, direct current electrode negative (DCEN) output, DC variable polarity, pulsed DC, or a variable balance (e.g., balanced or unbalanced) AC output, as dictated by the demands of the welding system 10. It should be appreciated that the presently disclosed tubular welding wire may enable improvements to the welding process (e.g., improved arc stability and/or improved weld quality) for a number of different power configurations.

The illustrated welding system 10 includes a gas supply system 16 that supplies a shielding gas or shielding gas mixtures from one or more shielding gas sources 17 to the welding torch 18. In the depicted embodiment, the gas supply system 16 is directly coupled to the welding torch 18 via a gas conduit 32. In another embodiment, the gas supply system 16 may instead be coupled to the wire feeder 14, and the wire feeder 14 may regulate the flow of gas from the gas supply system 16 to the welding torch 18. In other embodiments, such as certain FCAW-S and SAW systems that do not rely on an externally supplied shielding gas, the welding system 10 may not include the gas supply system 16. A shielding gas, as used herein, may refer to any gas or mixture of gases (e.g., inert or active gasses) that may be provided to the arc and/or weld pool in order to provide a particular local atmosphere (e.g., to shield the arc, improve arc stability, limit the formation of metal oxides, improve wetting of the metal surfaces, alter the chemistry of the weld deposit, and so forth).

In certain embodiments, the shielding gas flow may be a shielding gas or shielding gas mixture (e.g., argon (Ar), helium (He), carbon dioxide (CO₂), oxygen (O₂), nitrogen (N₂), hydrogen (H₂), similar suitable shielding gases, or any mixtures thereof). For example, a shielding gas flow (e.g., delivered via the gas conduit 32) may include Ar, CO₂, Ar/CO₂ mixtures (e.g., 75% Ar and 25% CO₂, 90% Ar and 10% CO₂, and so forth), Ar/CO₂/O₂ mixtures, Ar/He mixtures, and so forth. Further, it may be appreciated that, as set forth in detail below, certain shielding gases (e.g., certain Ar/CO₂ mixtures, such as 90% Ar/10% CO₂) may reduce a total amount of welding fumes that may be generated during the welding operation.

Accordingly, the illustrated welding torch 18 generally receives the tubular welding wire from the welding wire feeder 14, power from the welding power source 12, and a shielding gas flow from the gas supply system 16 in order to perform GMAW of the workpiece 22. During operation, the welding torch 18 may be brought near the workpiece 22 so that an arc 34 may be formed between the consumable welding electrode (i.e., the welding wire exiting a contact tip of the welding torch 18) and the workpiece 22. Additionally, as discussed below, by controlling the composition of the tubular welding wire, the chemical and mechanical properties of the resulting weld may be varied. For example, the tubular welding wire may include a deoxidizing component to react with and remove undesired species (e.g., oxygen, metal oxides, or other undesired oxygen species) from the weld environment. In certain embodiments, the tubular welding wire may further include alloying components to contribute species (e.g., copper, molybdenum, silicon, carbon, or other suitable alloying components) to the weld pool, affecting the mechanical properties (e.g., strength and toughness) of the weld. Furthermore, certain components of the tubular welding wire may also provide additional shielding atmosphere near the arc 34, affect the transfer properties of the arc 34, clean the surface of the workpiece 22, and so forth.

A cross-section of an embodiment of the presently disclosed welding wire is illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a tubular welding wire 50 having a metallic sheath 52 that encapsulates a granular or powdered core 54, which may also be referred to as filler. The metallic sheath 52 may be manufactured from any suitable metal or alloy (e.g., low-carbon steel, low-alloy steel, or other suitable metal or alloy). In certain embodiments, the metal sheath 52 may provide approximately 70% to approximately 90% of the total weight of the tubular welding wire 50. The metallic sheath 52 may include additives or impurities (e.g., iron oxides, carbon, manganese, silicon, nickel, or similar compounds or elements) that may be selected to provide desired properties for the tubular welding wire 50 as well as the weld bead. For example, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a metallic sheath 52 having less than approximately 0.02% carbon by weight. In other embodiments, the metallic sheath 52 may include between approximately 0.02% and approximately 0.16% carbon by weight.

Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the metallic sheath 52 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include relatively low manganese content. In certain embodiments, the amount of manganese that may be present in the metallic sheath 52 may be between approximately 0.01% and approximately 0.5% by weight (e.g., approximately 0.35% by weight or approximately 0.26% by weight), while the granular core 54 may be completely free or substantially free from manganese (e.g., including little or no metallic manganese and/or including little or no manganese compounds). For example, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 may include less than 0.1%, less than 0.05%, less than 0.04%, less than 0.03%, less than 0.02%, less than 0.01%, or approximately 0% (e.g., none or only trace impurity quantities) manganese by weight. As such, a number of the presently disclosed tubular welding wire embodiments have a manganese content (e.g., manganese metal or alloys, or manganese compounds, or both) less than approximately 0.35% or less than approximately 0.4% by weight. Further, in certain embodiments, the metallic sheath 52 may be completely free or substantially free (e.g., none or only trace impurity quantities) from manganese alloys, which may provide a tubular welding wire 50 that is completely free or substantially free of manganese metals and/or manganese compounds (e.g., manganese oxide).

The granular core 54 of the illustrated tubular welding wire 50 may generally be a compacted powder with a composition that, as discussed below, includes various components that each may serve at least one role as an alloying component, arc stabilizer, slag forming component, deoxidizer, and/or filler during the welding process. These components of the granular core 54 may be homogenously or non-homogenously (e.g., in clumps or clusters 56) disposed within the granular core 54. In certain embodiments, the granular core 54 may provide between approximately 10% and approximately 30% of the total weight of the tubular welding wire 50. Furthermore, as discussed in detail below, in certain embodiments, one or more components (e.g., certain arc stabilizing and/or slag forming components) may be prepared and included in the granular core 54 as agglomerates (e.g., sintered and/or formed into frits). It should be noted that the term “agglomerate” or “frit,” as used herein, refers to a mixture of compounds that have been fired or heated in a calciner or oven such that the components of the mixture are in intimate contact with one another. It should be appreciated that the agglomerate or frit may have subtly or substantially different chemical and/or physical properties than the individual components of the mixture used to form the agglomerate. For example, an agglomerate may generally be better suited for the weld environment (e.g., drier and/or better powder flow) than a non-agglomerated form of the same component.

Tables 1, 2, and 3 are set forth below for various embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50. More specifically, Table 1 includes a non-limiting list of twelve example formulations (e.g., E1-E12) for the granular core 54 for the presently disclosed tubular welding wire 50. Table 2 includes computed chemical composition for each of the example formulations (E1-E12) of the granular core 54 based on the components set forth in Table 1. Furthermore, Table 3 includes chemical and mechanical analysis results for weld deposits formed using each of the welding wire embodiments set forth in Table 1. The welding wire embodiments E1-E12 may correspond to one or more AWS standards for welding wire. That is, E1 may correspond to AWS A5.20 E71T-1C; E2 may correspond to AWS A5.20 E71T-1M; E3 and E9 may correspond to AWS A5.29 E71T1-Ni1C (G); E4 and E10 may correspond to AWS A5.29 E71T1-Ni1M (G); E5 may correspond to AWS A5.29 E81T1-NiC; E6 may correspond to AWS A5.29 E81T1-Ni1M; E7 may correspond to AWS A5.29 E81T1-K2C (G); E8 may correspond to AWS A5.29 E81T1-K2M (G); and E11 and E12 may correspond to AWS A5.20 E71T-G H8.

For the embodiments E1-E8 of Table 1, the metallic sheath 52 may account for approximately 84% of the weight of the tubular welding wire 50, while the remaining approximately 16% of the weight of the tubular welding wire may be contributed by the granular core 54. For embodiments E9-E12 of Table 1, the metallic sheath 52 may account for approximately 85% of the weight of the tubular welding wire 50, while the remaining approximately 15% may be contributed by the granular core. Further, for the embodiments E1-E8, the metallic sheath 52 may include approximately 0.35% manganese, while embodiments E9-E12 may include a metallic sheath having approximately 0.26% manganese. It should be appreciated that, while each component in Table 1 may be listed as serving a particular purpose (e.g., as an alloying agent, arc stabilizer, slag former, deoxidizer, or filler), each component may actually serve more than one role in the welding process. That is, for example, TiO₂ provided to the weld environment by the agglomerated titanium dioxide and/or the rutile powder may actually provide stability to the arc 34 in addition to aiding in slag formation. By further example, certain deoxidizing components (e.g., aluminum, magnesium, and/or zirconium) may bind strongly to oxygen, and sometimes nitrogen as well, from the welding atmosphere and form at least a portion of the slag around the weld bead. Similarly, certain deoxidizing components may also bind strongly to sulfur, which may come from the workpiece or from the welding consumable (e.g., as an impurity in the metallic sheath 52 or components of the granular core 54). As such, it should be appreciated that these components may be otherwise classified (e.g., as arc stabilizers, slag forming components, and/or deoxidizers) without altering the present invention.

TABLE 1 Example formulations for the granular core 54 for embodiments E1-E12 of tubular welding wire 50. Values are in weight percent relative to the total weight of the granular core 54. Role Component E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11 E12 Alloying Ferro-molybdenum metal powder 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Nickel powder 2.5 2.5 5.2 6.2 5.5 5.5 11.5 10.5 6.8 6.3 9.0 9.0 Copper powder 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 High carbon iron powder 10.0 2.0 0.0 2.0 9.0 9.0 10.0 7.5 2.0 3.7 0.0 0.0 Arc Stabilizing Iron oxides 0.0 3.5 0.0 7.0 0.0 3.5 0.0 3.5 0.0 7.5 7.5 4.1 Potassium fluorosilicate 1.1 0.0 1.1 0.0 1.1 0.0 1.1 0.0 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 Sodium titanate frit 9.0 11.0 9.0 11.0 9.0 11.0 9.0 11.0 9.6 11.7 0.0 0.0 Sodium titanate frit 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 11.7 0.0 (pigment grade TiO₂) Lithium oxide agglomerate 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.5 Slag Forming Rutile powder 5.0 0.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 0.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Manganous oxide powder 0.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 0.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Agglomerated titanium dioxide 42.3 43.0 42.3 43.0 42.3 43.0 42.3 43.0 45.1 45.8 45.7 55.3 Deoxidizing Magnesium powder 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 Aluminum-zirconium metal 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.1 1.1 powder Ferro-zirconium-silicon powder 8.7 4.5 8.7 4.5 9.3 4.5 9.3 4.5 8.3 5.3 3.1 3.1 Aluminum-magnesium metal 3.8 4.3 3.8 4.3 3.7 4.3 3.7 4.3 3.3 4.3 3.7 3.7 powder Aluminum powder 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Ferro-silicon metal powder 0.0 4.7 0.0 4.7 0.0 6.0 0.0 4.7 0.0 4.1 0.0 0.0 Calcium silicon powder 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.5 3.5 Filling iron powder 16.6 19.9 23.9 16.7 13.1 6.7 7.6 7.0 16.9 11.3 14.7 14.7

TABLE 2 Computed chemical composition for each of the example formulations (E1-E12) of the granular core 54 based on the components set forth in Table 1. Values are in weight percent relative to the total weight of the granular core 54. Further, the list is not exhaustive and, as such, the amounts of each constituent may not sum up to unity. Chemical name E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11 E12 Aluminum (Al) 2.13 2.77 2.13 2.76 1.85 2.18 1.85 2.17 2.11 2.16 2.42 2.42 Carbon (C) 0.43 0.11 0.06 0.11 0.39 0.36 0.43 0.31 0.13 0.17 0.06 0.06 Copper (Cu) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Iron (Fe) 27.04 24.91 24.76 21.46 23.22 19.14 18.14 17.29 19.63 17.46 15.20 15.20 Magnesium (Mg) 2.40 2.15 2.40 2.15 2.35 2.16 2.35 2.16 2.54 2.14 1.84 1.84 Manganese (Mn) 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 Molybdenum (Mo) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.94 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Nickel (Ni) 2.49 2.50 5.18 6.17 5.48 5.51 11.46 10.51 6.77 6.27 8.96 8.96 Silicon (Si) 4.46 4.60 4.44 4.58 4.76 5.26 4.76 4.61 4.23 4.70 3.65 3.65 Zirconium (Zr) 3.62 1.73 3.62 1.73 3.57 1.74 3.57 1.73 3.73 2.04 1.78 1.78 Ferrous/ferric oxide (Fe_(x)O_(y)) 0.00 3.52 0.00 7.00 0.00 3.52 0.00 3.52 0.00 7.50 7.50 7.49 Maganous oxide (MnO) 0.00 3.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.13 0.00 3.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Potassium oxide (K₂O) 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.46 Sodium oxide (Na₂O) 1.55 1.81 1.55 1.79 1.55 1.81 1.55 1.80 1.65 1.91 1.91 0.65 Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) 2.80 3.07 2.80 2.95 2.80 3.11 2.80 3.07 2.98 3.14 3.13 4.06 Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) 50.81 48.32 50.81 48.11 50.81 48.38 50.81 48.35 53.78 51.20 51.11 50.16 Lithium fluoride (LiF) 0.81 0.82 0.81 0.82 0.81 0.82 0.81 0.82 0.86 0.87 0.87 1.05 Potassium fluorosilicate (K₂SiF₆) 1.10 0.00 1.10 0.00 1.10 0.00 1.10 0.00 1.10 0.00 0.00 0.00 Calcium 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.01 1.01 Lithium oxide 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.03

As set forth in Table 1, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 4% and approximately 18% alloying components by weight. For example, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having ferro-molybdenum metal powder, nickel powder, copper powder, and/or high-carbon (e.g., between approximately 3.2% and 3.9% carbon by weight) iron powder. As set forth in Table 2, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having between approximately 0% and approximately 1.5% copper, between approximately 2% and approximately 12% nickel, between approximately 0% and approximately 1% molybdenum, and/or between approximately 0% and approximately 1% carbon by weight. While these alloying components may otherwise contribute to the welding process (e.g., as arc stabilizers, slag formers, and/or deoxidizers), generally speaking, these alloying components are substantially incorporated (e.g., greater than 90% incorporated) into the weld metal to affect the properties (e.g., strength, ductility, corrosion resistance, and so forth) of the weld bead and the surrounding workpiece 22.

Furthermore, as set forth in Table 1, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 10% and approximately 15% arc stabilizing components by weight. For example, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having iron oxides, potassium fluorosilicate, sodium titanate frit (e.g., made using either rutile or pigment-grade TiO₂), and/or lithium oxide agglomerate. As set forth in Table 2, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having between approximately 0% and 7.5% iron oxides, between approximately 0% and 2% potassium fluorosilicate, between approximately 0% and approximately 12% sodium titanate frit, and between 0% and 6% lithium oxide agglomerate by weight. Again, while these components may otherwise contribute to the welding process (e.g., as slag formers and/or deoxidizers), these arc stabilizers may generally provide species to the arc that readily ionize, enabling a more consistent and/or controllable arc 34 to the surface of the workpiece 22. The presently disclosed sodium titanate frit may be a sintered mixture of sodium titanate and lithium fluoride and/or sodium silicate that may be better suited for the weld environment (e.g., drier and/or better powder flow) than non-agglomerated sodium titanate. As indicated in Table 1, in certain embodiments, the sodium titanate may be made from rutile and, accordingly, may have one or more of the aforementioned impurities that rutile may commonly include. In other embodiments indicated in Table 1, the sodium titanate may instead be made from pigment grade TiO₂, which may lack one or more of these impurities. By specific example, an embodiment of a pigment-grade sodium titanate frit may include approximately 11.8% sodium oxide, approximately 5.7% silica, and approximately 82.5% pigment-grade TiO₂. Similarly, as indicated in Table 1, certain embodiments may include a lithium agglomerate that may be a sintered mixture of lithium oxide, iron oxides, sodium oxide, and silica, which may be better suited for the weld environment (e.g., drier and/or better powder flow) than a non-agglomerated mixture of these components. By specific example, in certain embodiments, the lithium agglomerate may include approximately 18.7% lithium oxide, approximately 61.6% iron oxides, approximately 0.2% sodium oxide, and approximately 19.5% silica.

Additionally, as set forth in Table 1, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 40% and approximately 50% slag forming components by weight. Certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having rutile powder, manganous oxide powder, and/or agglomerated titanium dioxide. For example, certain embodiments of the presently disclosed welding wire 50 may have a granular core 54 that includes between approximately 3% and approximately 5% manganese oxide powder by weight. Other embodiments of the presently disclosed welding wire 50 may have a granular core 54 that includes substantially no (e.g., approximately 0%) manganese oxide powder by weight. Accordingly, as set forth in Table 2, in certain embodiments, this may result in granular cores 54 and/or tubular welding wires 50 having a manganese content (e.g., as a metal and/or as a component of a chemical compound) less than approximately 3.5%, 3%, 2.5%, 2%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.35%, 0.05%, 0.03%, 0.01%, or even 0.001% by weight.

In terms of other slag forming components, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 45% and approximately 55% titanium dioxide by weight (e.g., from the rutile and/or agglomerated titanium dioxide sources). Accordingly, in certain embodiments, the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 6% and approximately 8% pigment-grade TiO₂ by weight. It should be appreciated that, the TiO₂ used to form the presently disclosed agglomerated titanium dioxide is a pigment-grade TiO₂ (e.g., greater than 95%, 99%, 99.9%, or 99.99% TiO₂) that may lack or have lower levels of one or more impurities typically found in rutile (e.g., iron, niobium, tantalum, vanadium, and/or other impurities). That is, pigment grade TiO₂ is generally both purified and milled, in contrast to lower purity TiO₂, such as milled rutile.

Furthermore, in certain embodiments, this pigment-grade TiO₂ may be sintered with one or more drying and/or binding agents (e.g., lithium fluoride, and/or sodium silicate) to form the agglomerated titanium dioxide component of the granular core 54. For example, in certain embodiments of the presently disclosed welding wire 50, an agglomerated titanium dioxide component may be formed by dry mixing purified TiO₂ powder and purified (e.g., precipitated grade) lithium fluoride for a period of time (e.g., 10 min). Then, as mixing continues, a concentrated aqueous solution of sodium silicate and a concentrated aqueous solution of potassium silicate may be slowly added to the dry mixture along with, in certain situations, a small quantity of water until a desired consistency is achieved (e.g., mixture begins to “ball”). After mixing for an additional period of time (e.g., 3 to 5 min), in certain embodiments, the wet mixture may be disposed in an oven (e.g., a direct fired kiln) and heated to approximately 1200° F. to approximately 1600° F. for approximately 15 to 25 minutes (or heated to similar temperatures in a pan for approximately 2 hours). In certain embodiments, the TiO₂ agglomerate may be made from approximately 81.3% purified TiO₂, approximately 11% sodium silicate, approximately 6% potassium silicate, and approximately 1.7% lithium fluoride. Once the agglomerate has been formed (e.g., after firing), in certain embodiments, the agglomerate may consist of pigment-grade TiO₂, silica, potassium oxide, sodium oxide and lithium fluoride (e.g., approximately 90.7% TiO₂, approximately 5.4% silica, approximately 1.2% sodium oxide, approximately 0.8% potassium oxide, and approximately 1.9% lithium fluoride). While not desiring to be bound by theory, it is believed that using a combination of both sodium and potassium silicates, as presently disclosed, provides a TiO₂ agglomerate that may be especially resistant to accumulating moisture from the surrounding environment. Additionally, in certain embodiments, using lithium fluoride in combination with these two silicates increases the moisture resistance of the TiO₂ agglomerate and enables the formation of a harder and/or denser TiO₂ agglomerate.

Additionally, as set forth in Table 1, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 10% and approximately 15% deoxidizers by weight. For example, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having magnesium powder, aluminum-zirconium metal powder, ferro-zirconium-silicon powder, aluminum-magnesium metal powder, aluminum powder, ferro-silicon metal powder, and/or calcium silicon powder. By specific example, certain embodiments of tubular welding wire 50 may have a granular core 54 that includes aluminum-zirconium metal powder and/or ferro-zirconium-silicon powder as deoxidizing components. In certain embodiments, the calcium silicon powder may include approximately 30% calcium, approximately 60% silicon, approximately 6% iron, and approximately 1% carbon by weight of the powder. In certain embodiments, as set forth in Table 2, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 0% and approximately 3% aluminum, between approximately 0% and approximately 3% magnesium, between approximately 0% and approximately 4% zirconium, and/or between approximately 0% and approximately 6% silicon by weight. While these components may otherwise contribute to the welding process (e.g., as arc stabilizers or slag formers), these deoxidizing components are generally selected to strongly bind oxygen in order to block (e.g., limit or prevent) this oxygen from remaining in the weld pool and weakening the weld deposit.

Furthermore, as set forth in Table 1, in certain embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may include between approximately 5% and approximately 25% filler metal by weight. For example, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may include a granular core 54 having iron powder as the filler metal. As set forth in Table 2, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may have a granular core 54 including between approximately 15% and approximately 30% iron by weight. While the iron powder may otherwise contribute to the welding process (e.g., as an arc stabilizer, slag former, and/or deoxidizer), the iron powder may generally provide a substantial portion of the metal used to form the weld on the workpiece 22. As such, most of the iron powder included in the granular core 54 may be incorporated into and form the weld deposit.

Table 3 includes chemical and mechanical analysis results for weld deposits formed using the welding wire embodiments (e.g., embodiments E1-E12) set forth in Tables 1 and 2. It should be noted that the elements included in Table 3 include values in the form of weight percentages for a non-exhaustive list of elements; other elements (e.g., Fe) and other trace impurities (e.g., arsenic (As)) may also be present within the weld metal. In general, it should be noted that all of the tubular welding wire embodiments provide weld deposits having relatively low oxygen content (e.g., between approximately 0% and approximately 0.15%, between approximately 0.05% and approximately 0.10%, or less than approximately 0.09% by weight) and relatively low nitrogen content (e.g., between approximately 0% and approximately 0.01%, between approximately 0.004% and approximately 0.009%, or less than 0.01% by weight). Additionally, in certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50, the use of the pigment grade TiO₂ in the agglomerated titanium dioxide generally enables the formation of weld deposits having relatively low vanadium content (e.g., between approximately 0.006% and approximately 0.008% or less than approximately 0.009% by weight) and relatively low niobium content (e.g., between approximately 0.003% and approximately 0.005% or less than approximately 0.006% by weight), which may offer advantages to the weld deposit. Furthermore, as set forth in Table 3, certain embodiments of the tubular welding wire 50 may form weld deposits having a manganese content between approximately 0.2% and approximately 0.5%, between approximately 0.25% and approximately 0.4%, or between approximately 0.3% and approximately 0.4% by weight. In contrast, other T-1 welding wires (e.g., AWS A5.20 EXXT-1, A5.29 EXXT1-YY, A5.36 EXXT-1, and EXXT1-YY) may form weld deposits having greater than approximately 0.75% manganese by weight, while typical self-shielded welding wires may generally form weld deposits having greater than approximately 0.5% manganese. Accordingly, the presently disclosed tubular welding wires 50 enable the formation of weld deposits having substantially lower manganese content (e.g., less than 0.5%, such as 0.15% or even 0.05% manganese by weight) than weld deposits from other welding wires, while still maintaining good weld properties.

Table 3 also lists mechanical properties for each of the example weld deposits formed using the welding wire embodiments (e.g., embodiments E1-E12) listed in Table 1. Specifically, Table 3 includes mechanical property measurements for yield strength, tensile strength, percent elongation, and Charpy-V-Notch (CVN) values at −20° F. and −40° F. as determined based on AWS A5.20 (e.g., E71T1-GM), A5.36, or another suitable standard. In general, the example weld deposits may demonstrate yield strengths from approximately 60 ksi to approximately 75 ksi, tensile strengths from approximately 70 ksi to approximately 85 ksi, percent elongation from approximately 20% to approximately 35%, CVN from approximately 40 ft-lbs to approximately 105 ft-lbs at −20° F., and CVN from approximately 35 ft-lbs to approximately 95 ft-lbs at −40° F. For example, in certain embodiments, the weld deposit demonstrated a CVN of greater than 65 ft-lbs, greater than 70 ft-lbs, greater than 75 ft-lbs, greater than 80 ft-lbs, greater than 85 ft-lbs, greater than 90 ft-lbs, or greater than 100 ft-lbs at −20° F. By further example, in certain embodiments, the weld deposit demonstrated a CVN of greater than 45 ft-lbs, greater than 50 ft-lbs, greater than 70 ft-lbs, greater than 75 ft-lbs, greater than 80 ft-lbs, greater than 85 ft-lbs, or greater than 90 ft-lbs at −40° F. Further, for embodiments E11 and E12, the CVN at −60° F. is approximately 100 ft-lbs as listed in Table 3. It should be noted that despite the relatively low manganese content determined for the weld deposits E1-E12 (e.g., less than approximately 0.5%), the weld deposits possess relatively high toughness and a suitable tensile strength for the classification type, as compared to conventional welding wires.

TABLE 3 Example elemental analyses and mechanical test results for weld deposits E1-E12 formed using the corresponding tubular welding wire embodiments E1-E12 of Table 1. Elemental values are in weight percent relative to the total weight of the weld deposit. Weld deposits were formed using the following parameters: Amps: 260; Volts: 26-28; DCEP; Wire Feed Speed: 450 inches per minute; Electrical Stickout: 0.75 in.; Travel Speed: 10 inches per minute; Angle: 45°; Position: 1g; Shielding Gas: 100% CO₂, 75% Argon and 25% CO₂, or 90% Argon and 10% CO₂. N/A denotes measurements that are not presently available. E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11/12 Element Carbon (C) 0.067 0.032 0.020 0.028 0.075 0.077 0.071 0.058 0.035 0.080 0.027 Manganese (Mn) 0.205 0.388 0.206 0.206 0.222 0.429 0.229 0.392 0.251 0.217 0.245 Phosphorus (P) 0.008 0.010 0.008 0.006 0.011 0.010 0.009 0.013 0.009 0.012 0.011 Sulfur (S) 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.010 0.010 0.008 0.011 0.008 0.013 0.008 Silicon (Si) 0.366 0.496 0.427 0.486 0.524 0.607 0.451 0.485 0.488 0.478 0.385 Copper (Cu) 0.045 0.047 0.047 0.045 0.050 0.282 0.042 0.048 0.018 0.014 0.016 Chromium (Cr) 0.047 0.034 0.048 0.033 0.058 0.033 0.077 0.047 0.026 0.034 0.019 Vanadium (V) 0.007 0.007 0.008 0.006 0.008 0.007 0.008 0.006 0.007 0.008 0.003 Nickel (Ni) 0.448 0.467 0.927 1.096 1.057 0.978 2.084 2.044 1.070 1.028 1.410 Molybdenum (Mo) 0.007 0.009 0.007 0.006 0.171 0.006 0.008 0.007 0.005 0.006 0.002 Aluminum (Al) 0.013 0.022 0.015 0.034 0.012 0.017 0.016 0.014 0.016 0.014 0.021 Titanium (Ti) 0.061 0.053 0.062 0.059 0.061 0.064 0.069 0.054 0.085 0.050 0.060 Niobium (Nb) 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.003 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.006 0.005 0.003 Cobalt (Co) 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.008 0.003 0.004 0.003 Tungsten (W) 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.012 0.005 0.008 0.005 Tin (Sn) 0.005 0.004 0.004 0.002 0.003 0.001 0.005 0.003 0.002 0.001 0.005 Zirconium (Zr) 0.008 0.005 0.009 0.007 0.008 0.004 0.009 0.004 0.011 0.008 0.010 Antimony (Sb) 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.003 0.001 0.000 0.005 0.000 0.001 0.000 Oxygen (O) 0.077 0.075 0.073 0.080 N/A N/A 0.067 0.065 0.070 0.078 0.079 Nitrogen (N) 0.005 0.004 0.004 0.009 N/A N/A 0.004 0.004 0.005 0.004 0.005 Property Yield Strength (KSI) 64.2 61.2 62.9 65.1 70.8 71.5 71.6 70.1 66.9 63.2 63.8 Tensile Strength (KSI) 74.1 71.4 70.9 72.8 83.4 82.2 83.6 81.9 74.8 72.8 72.1 % Elongation 27.2 30.5 29.2 28 26.8 25.8 23.1 26.8 28.2 28.7 30.2 CVN (ft-lbs) @ −20° F. 85 87 101 70 41 66 77 76 96 85 101 CVN (ft-lbs) @ −40° F. 52 45 93 75 49 51 69 65 63 45 N/A CVN (ft-lbs) @ −60° F. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 100

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a process 60 by which a workpiece 22 may be welded using the disclosed welding system 10 and tubular welding wire 50. The illustrated process 60 begins with feeding (block 62) the tubular welding electrode 50 (i.e., the tubular welding wire 50) to a welding apparatus (e.g., welding torch 18). Additionally, the process 60 includes providing (block 64) a shielding gas flow (e.g., 100% argon, 100% CO₂, 75% argon/25% CO₂, 90% argon/10% CO₂, or similar shielding gas flow) near the contact tip of the welding apparatus (e.g., the contact tip of the torch 18). In other embodiments, welding systems may be used that do not use a gas supply system (e.g., such as the gas supply system 16 illustrated in FIG. 1) and one or more components (e.g., potassium carbonate) of the tubular welding electrode 50 may decompose to provide a shielding gas component (e.g., carbon dioxide).

Continuing through the process 60, next, the tubular welding electrode 50 may be brought near (block 66) the workpiece 22 to strike and sustain an arc 34 between the tubular welding wire 50 and the workpiece 22. It should be appreciated that the arc 34 may be produced using, for example, a DCEP, DCEN, DC variable polarity, pulsed DC, balanced or unbalanced AC power configuration for the GMAW system 10. Once the arc 34 has been established to the workpiece 22, a portion of the tubular welding electrode 50 (e.g., filler metals and alloying components) may be transferred (block 68) into the weld pool on the surface of the workpiece 22 to form a weld bead of a weld deposit. Meanwhile, the remainder of the components of the tubular welding electrode 50 may be released (block 70) from the tubular welding electrode 50 to serve as arc stabilizers, slag formers, and/or deoxidizers to control the electrical characteristics of the arc and the resulting chemical and mechanical properties of the weld deposit.

As set forth above, the presently disclosed welding system 10 may provide low fume generation rates (FGR) and/or low manganese fume generation rates (MnFGR). That is, the presently disclosed tubular welding wire 50 (e.g., working in combination with particular shielding gases) may provide low FGRs and/or low MnFGRs. Table 4 includes FGR and MnFGR data for a number of standard welding electrodes alongside FGR and MnFGR data for the disclosed welding electrode embodiments E1-E12. Accordingly, as illustrated in Table 4, certain disclosed welding wire embodiments may afford a FGR of less than 0.8 grams per min (g/min), less than 0.7 g/min, less than 0.6 g/min, less than 0.5 g/min, less than 0.4 g/min, less than 0.35 g/min, or less than 0.34 g/min. Furthermore, as illustrated in Table 4, certain disclosed welding wire embodiments may afford a MnFGR of less than 0.06 g/min, less than 0.05 g/min, less than 0.04 g/min, less than 0.03 g/min, less than 0.02 g/min, less than 0.01 g/min, less than 0.009 g/min, less than 0.008 g/min, or less than 0.007 g/min.

For further comparison, AWS F3.2 Annex B indicates that a typical FGR produced by an E71T-1 FCAW electrode is approximately 0.7 g/min to 0.8 g/min; while the FGRs of certain presently disclosed welding wire embodiments listed in Table 4 are between approximately 0.3 g/min and 0.6 g/min, especially for certain shielding gases (e.g., argon/CO₂ mixtures). Additionally, AWS F3.2 Annex C indicates that the typical manganese contribution to the total fumes produced by an E70T-1 FCAW electrode is between 6.2% and 13.5%, and AWS F3.2 Annex D indicates that E70T-1 and E71T-1 FCAW electrodes typically produce total fumes having 8.1% or 9.0% manganese. In contrast, the MnFGRs presented in Table 4 represent approximately 1.1% to approximately 3.3% manganese contribution to the total fume, significantly lower than other welding electrodes. As such, the presently disclosed welding wires embodiments E1-E12 provide low FGRs as well as low MnFGRs.

TABLE 4 Fume generation rates (FGR) and manganese fume generation rate (MnFGR) in grams per min (g/min) for standard welding wires and disclosed welding wire embodiments (E1-E10) using the indicated shielding gas, amperage, and voltage (DCEP). Testing was performed according to AWS F1.2:2006 using 0.045″ diameter wire and a melt rate of approximately 7 lbs/hour (approximately 53-54 g/min). 200 A/27.0 V 225 A/27.5 V 250 A/28.0 V 275 A/28.5 V 300 A/29.0 V Welding Wire FGR MnFGR FGR MnFGR FGR MnFGR FGR MnFGR FGR MnFGR AWS A5.20: E71T-1C (100% CO₂) 0.4307 0.0383 0.4813 0.0361 0.5861 0.0416 0.6725 0.0437 0.6508 0.0397 E1 (100% CO₂) 0.5945 0.0083 0.7229 0.0101 0.7523 0.0120 0.8237 0.0132 0.8663 0.0182 E3; E9 (100% CO₂) 0.4742 0.0066 0.4648 0.0060 0.6368 0.0089 0.7615 0.0114 0.7111 0.0128 AWS A5.20: E71T-1M 0.3978 0.0302 0.4406 0.0286 0.6064 0.0388 0.6401 0.0512 0.4917 0.0339 (75% Ar/25% CO₂) E2 (75% Ar/25% CO₂) 0.4267 0.0154 0.4687 0.0150 0.5812 0.0174 0.6095 0.0171 0.4440 0.0147 E4; E10 (75% Ar/25% CO₂) 0.3337 0.0043 0.4092 0.0045 0.5710 0.0074 0.6125 0.0086 0.4565 0.0082 AWS A5.29: E81T1-K2CJ H8 0.4861 0.0262 0.5741 0.0350 0.7507 0.0435 0.8830 0.0512 0.8172 0.0482 (100% CO₂) AWS A5.29: E81T1-K2MJ H8 0.5482 0.0378 0.6300 0.0365 0.7995 0.0416 0.9925 0.0466 0.8541 0.0512 (100% CO₂) E7 (100% CO₂) 0.5639 0.0085 0.6070 0.0079 0.8214 0.0131 0.8653 0.0130 0.8080 0.0145 AWS A5.29: 81T1-K2MJ H8 0.4721 0.0321 0.5644 0.0316 0.7245 0.0464 0.8600 0.0447 0.7029 0.0422 (75% Ar/25% CO₂) E8 (75% Ar/25% CO₂) 0.4050 0.0122 0.4147 0.0116 0.5385 0.0172 0.6105 0.0165 0.5579 0.0162

Table 5 further illustrates an effect of the shielding gas on the FGR for the disclosed welding electrodes. In particular, Table 5 illustrates FGR for a standard welding wire in comparison to disclosed welding wire embodiments E10, E11, and E12 using different shielding gas mixtures. As indicated in Table 5, a standard welding electrode (e.g., a standard E71T-1C electrode) may have a FGR of approximately 0.61 g/min, resulting in approximately 0.7% of the electrode being converted to fumes. By moving to the disclosed welding electrode E10 under the same shielding gas conditions, the FGR may be reduced to approximately 0.58 g/min. Additionally, when using the disclosed welding electrode E11 and a 90% Ar/10% CO₂ shielding gas, the FGR may be reduced to approximately 0.40 g/min (e.g., with approximately 0.5% of the electrode converted to fumes); and when using the disclosed welding electrode E12 and the 90% Ar/10% CO₂ shielding gas, the FGR may be reduced to approximately 0.34 g/min (e.g., approximately 0.42% of the electrode converted to fumes). Further, certain embodiments of the presently disclosed tubular welding wire 50 may generally enable high melt rates (e.g., greater than approximately 53 g/min, greater than approximately 54 g/min, etc.) while maintaining the aforementioned low FGRs. As such, while other welding wires may have FGRs greater than 0.5 g/min or greater than 0.6 g/min, which may correspond to a conversion of approximately 0.7% or more of the welding wire (by weight) into welding fumes, the presently disclosed welding system may enable FGRs corresponding to a conversion of less than approximately 0.6%, less than 0.5%, or less than 0.45% of the welding wire into fumes. Accordingly, Table 5 illustrates that certain embodiments of the presently disclosed welding system 10 may provide FGRs that are between approximately 30% and approximately 40% lower than the FGR of a standard (e.g., AWS A5.20: E71T1-1C) welding electrode with certain shielding gases. Indeed, in certain embodiments, the disclosed welding electrode embodiments may provide melt rates as high as approximately 80 g/min while maintaining a fume generation rate of approximately 0.4 g/min (e.g., with approximately 0.5% of the electrode converted to fumes) or approximately 0.35 g/min (e.g., with approximately 0.4% of the electrode converted to fumes) with the appropriate shielding gas (e.g., 90% Ar/10% CO₂).

TABLE 5 Fume generation rates (FGR) for a standard welding wire and welding wire embodiments E10, E11, and E12 using the indicated shielding gas, amperage, and voltage (DCEP). Testing was performed according to AWS F1.2:2006 using 0.045″ diameter wire. AWS A5.20: E71T-1C E10 E11 E12 Amperage 250 250 250 250 Voltage 27 27 26 26 Shielding Gas 75% Ar/ 75% Ar/ 90% Ar/ 90% Ar/10% CO₂ 25% CO₂ 25% CO₂ 10% CO₂ FGR (g/min) 0.6064 0.5812 0.4043 0.3387 % Electrode 0.7 0.74 0.5 0.42 to Fumes Melt Rate 53-54 53-54 80 80 (g/min) Melt Rate 7 7 10.6 10.6 (lbs/hour)

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a process 80 by which the tubular welding wire 50 may be manufactured. It may be appreciated that the process 80 merely provides an example of manufacturing a tubular welding wire 50; however, in other embodiments, other methods of manufacturing may be used to produce the tubular welding wire 50 without spoiling the effect of the present approach. That is, for example, in certain embodiments, the tubular welding wire 50 may be formed via a roll-forming method or via packing the core composition into a hollow metallic sheath. The illustrated process 80 begins with a flat metal strip being fed (block 82) through a number of dies that shape the strip into a partially circular metal sheath 52 (e.g., producing a semicircle or trough). After the metal strip has been at least partially shaped into the metal sheath 52, it may be filled (block 84) with the filler (i.e., the granular core 54), such as the formulations E1-E12 for the granular core 54 filler discussed with respect to Table 1. That is, the partially shaped metal sheath 52 may be filled with various powdered alloying, arc stabilizing, slag forming, deoxidizing, and/or filling components. In certain embodiments, the disclosed tubular welding wire 50 may be completely free or substantially free of manganese or may be a low manganese (e.g., less than approximately 0.4% manganese by weight) welding wire. In other embodiments, the granular core 54 of the tubular welding wire 50 may be completely free or substantially free of manganese, and only the metal sheath 52 includes (e.g., approximately 0.35%, approximately 0.26%, or less) manganese.

Continuing through the process 80, once the components of the granular core material 54 have been added to the partially shaped metal sheath 52, the partially shaped metal sheath 52 may then be fed through (block 86) one or more devices (e.g., drawing dies or other suitable closing devices) that may generally close the metal sheath 52 such that it substantially surrounds the granular core material 54 (e.g., forming a seam 58). Additionally, the closed metal sheath 52 may subsequently be fed through (block 88) a number of devices (e.g., drawing dies or other suitable devices) to reduce the circumference of the tubular welding wire 50 by compressing the granular core material 54.

While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A flux-cored welding wire, comprising: a metal sheath disposed around a granular core, wherein the flux-cored welding wire is configured to form a weld deposit comprising less than 0.5% manganese by weight, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises between 0.15% and 0.5% zirconium by weight, wherein the granular core comprises less than 3.5% manganese and between 35% and 55% agglomerated titanium dioxide by weight of the granular core, wherein the agglomerated titanium dioxide includes a sintered mixture consisting essentially of titanium dioxide, silica, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, and lithium fluoride, wherein the granular core comprises between 10% and 15% arc stabilizing components by weight of the granular core, and wherein the arc stabilizing components comprise at least one of the following: iron oxides, potassium fluorosilicate, sodium titanate frit, and lithium oxide agglomerate.
 2. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises less than 0.2% manganese by weight.
 3. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 2, wherein the granular core is substantially free of manganese.
 4. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the agglomerated titanium dioxide includes pigment-grade titanium dioxide.
 5. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the weld deposit comprises 0.05% or less manganese by weight.
 6. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the weld deposit comprises a CVN toughness of at least 20 ft-lbs at −20° F. and at −40° F.
 7. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the weld deposit comprises greater than 0.2% manganese by weight.
 8. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the weld deposit comprises 0.22% manganese by weight.
 9. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 1, wherein the flux-cored welding wire is a T1 flux-cored welding wire.
 10. A flux-cored welding wire, comprising: a sheath and a core, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises between 0.15% and 0.5% zirconium by weight, wherein the core comprises less than 3.5% manganese, between 2% and 12% nickel, and between 35% and 55% agglomerated titanium dioxide by weight of the core, wherein the agglomerated titanium dioxide includes a sintered mixture consisting essentially of titanium dioxide, silica, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, and lithium fluoride, wherein the core comprises between 10% and 15% arc stabilizing components by weight of the granular core, wherein the arc stabilizing components comprise at least one of the following: iron oxides, potassium fluorosilicate, sodium titanate frit, and lithium oxide agglomerate, and wherein the flux-cored welding wire is configured to form a weld deposit comprising less than 0.5% manganese by weight.
 11. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 10, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises less than 0.5% manganese by weight.
 12. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 10, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises less than 0.35% manganese by weight.
 13. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 10, wherein the flux-cored welding wire is a T1 flux-cored welding wire.
 14. A flux-cored welding wire, comprising: a sheath and a core configured to form a weld deposit during a welding operation, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises between 0.15% and 0.5% zirconium by weight, wherein the core comprises between 35% and 55% agglomerated titanium dioxide by weight of the core, wherein the agglomerated titanium dioxide includes a sintered mixture consisting essentially of titanium dioxide, silica, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, and lithium fluoride, wherein the core comprises between 10% and 15% arc stabilizing components by weight of the core, wherein the arc stabilizing components comprise at least one of the following: iron oxides, potassium fluorosilicate, sodium titanate frit, and lithium oxide agglomerate and wherein the weld deposit comprises: less than 0.3% manganese by weight; less than or equal to 2.1% nickel by weight; and less than or equal to 0.08% carbon by weight.
 15. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 14, wherein the flux-cored welding wire is a T1 flux-cored welding wire.
 16. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 14, wherein the core comprises by weight of the core: between 2% and 12% nickel; and less than 0.05% manganese.
 17. A flux-cored welding wire, comprising a metal sheath disposed around a granular core, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises between 0.15% and 0.5% zirconium by weight, wherein the granular core comprises less than 3.5% manganese by weight of the granular core, wherein the granular core comprises between 35% and 55% agglomerated titanium dioxide by weight of the granular core, wherein the agglomerated titanium dioxide includes a sintered mixture consisting essentially of titanium dioxide, silica, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, and lithium fluoride, wherein the granular core comprises between 10% and 15% arc stabilizing components by weight of the granular core, wherein the arc stabilizing components comprise at least one of the following: iron oxides, potassium fluorosilicate, sodium titanate frit, and lithium oxide agglomerate, and wherein the flux-cored welding wire provides a fume generation rate less than 0.9 g/min and a manganese fume generation rate less than 0.06 g/min when a melt rate of the flux-cored welding wire is greater than or equal to 53 g/min.
 18. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 17, wherein the fume generation rate is less than 0.8 g/min and the manganese fume generation rate is less than 0.02 g/min.
 19. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 17, wherein less than 0.6% of the flux-cored welding wire by weight is converted to fumes.
 20. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 17, wherein less than 0.45% of the flux-cored welding wire by weight is converted to fumes.
 21. A flux-cored welding wire, comprising a metal sheath disposed around a granular core, wherein the flux-cored welding wire comprises between 0.15% and 0.5% zirconium by weight, wherein the granular core comprises less than 3.5% manganese by weight of the granular core, wherein the granular core comprises between 35% and 55% agglomerated titanium dioxide by weight of the granular core, wherein the agglomerated titanium dioxide includes a sintered mixture consisting essentially of titanium dioxide, silica, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, and lithium fluoride, wherein the granular core comprises between 10% and 15% arc stabilizing components by weight of the granular core, wherein the arc stabilizing components comprise at least one of the following: iron oxides, potassium fluorosilicate, sodium titanate frit, and lithium oxide agglomerate, wherein the flux-cored welding wire is configured to generate a welding fume at a rate less than 0.9 g/min when a melt rate of the flux-cored welding wire is at least 53 g/min, and wherein the welding fume comprises less than 3.6% manganese by weight.
 22. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 21, wherein the welding fume comprises less than 3.2% manganese by weight.
 23. The flux-cored welding wire of claim 21, wherein the welding fume comprises less than 3% manganese by weight. 